The invention relates to the field of vending machines and computer programs that operate them. The invention described herein controls the operation of the tanning booth by a card operated machine that controls the suntanning period as well as the number of times the suntanning booth may be used in a given period. One of the problems with tanning salons is that people like to use the tanning booth over and over again in a short period which may lead to problems with skin cancer etc. over the long term. It is believed that the invention will be useful in preventing this overexposure to the tanning lights by limiting the number of times anyone person may use the tanning booth.
It is thought that the invention will find utility by maintaining a network of subscribers to the tanning booth. Anyone who joins the network would be assigned their own ID number and a card that has this number encoded on it would be assigned to each person. When that person wishes to use the tanning booth he inserts the card to identify him or her as a member and the deposits the proper amount of money to correspond to a time period of tanning.